


Family Business

by Jaseish (Kymopoleia)



Category: LoliRock (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, indian nathaniel hc, post "Stop In The Name Of Lev" but pre everything else, this is self indulgent for my new otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 03:40:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12027336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymopoleia/pseuds/Jaseish
Summary: Talia hadn't expected to see a familiar face when she stepped into the Smoothie Bar. Then again, Earth was proving to be a lot of things that she didn't expect.





	Family Business

Talia sighs as she steps into the Smoothie Bar, breathing in the smell of the sharp plastic, the cleaning supplies, the fruit. The whir of the machines and the gentle chatter are also welcome to her ears, so comforting.

She had been sent out for a smoothie run, Iris still needing a pick-me-up after the mess last week with Lev and Auriana generally being too busy working on a new spell to accompany her. That was fine though, all good and fine.

Talia leaned on the counter, offering a smile to Nathaniel and sliding him the cash Aunt Ellen had offered her on the way out. “Three regulars, please?”

Nate nodded. “You got it.”

Talia sighed, turning to glance around the room. A few people she recognized from the adventures with Iris, a few people that they’d helped, but nobody she knew well enough to talk to.

She turns back to the counter. Nate passes something to the other guy behind the counter-

Talia’s eyebrows rose up as she slid her eyes casually to the left to study him.

A purple shirt that looked… familiar somehow, brown pants tucked into a pair of boots, dark hair with white tips, a smile like the…

“Lev?!” Talia shouted suddenly.

“Talia?” Nathaniel blinked at her.

“Nathaniel!” Lev piped up, grinning.

Nate and Talia shared a glance before looking at the other boy. “Why did you say my name, dude?” He asked.

“Nobody else was going to.” Lev shrugged.

Nathaniel held his heart and made a wounded noise. “You hurt me.”

Talia shook her head. “That’s unimportant. Lev, what are you doing here!”

“Is that a question or…?” He plucked at the apron he was wearing. “I work here.”

Talia groaned and stood to grab the front of his shirt. “Let’s speak in private.”

Nathaniel laughed nervously. “Hey, take it to the back okay? Thank you…” He pushed Lev’s shoulder and pointed to the door behind the counter. “You’re freaking me out. And you’re going to spill a smoothie, and I don’t want to deal with that right now.”

Talia didn’t let go of Lev as she practically dragged him to the back, shoving him against the back wall when they got inside.

He yelped as his head hit the wall. “Hey, careful there princess.” His tone came off condescending, so she shoved him again.

“Iris said you died on Ephedia.” She replied, voice dangerously sharp.

“Sometimes I wish I had, being exiled to Earth is much worse a fate.”

She rubbed her temples. “Well, if you try anything, you’ll see how dying on Earth tastes.”

He shook his head, stepping forward to straighten his shirt. “I don’t think precious little princess Iris would like the sound of-“

She drew her fist back and slammed it into his cheek, loud enough for his head to hit the wall. Hard enough for her knuckles to split a bit, for his lip to begin bleeding where it’d snagged his teeth.

He touches his chin, where the trickle of blood is, and laughs. “You punch hard.”

“You deserved it.”

The door cracks open as Nate pops his head in. “What was tha- is that blood? My manager will kill me if this room gets dirty, what’s going on back here?”

“Family business.” Talia snaps before Lev can say anything, before he can lie his way out of this.

“Family business?” He asks, eyebrows raised. “Don’t fib, it’s an ugly shade on you.”

“I’m not lying. You offended me, my sister would have approved. Besides, Iris is my family too.”

“She’s what now?” Nathaniel interrupts as Lev laughs again, so annoying as it needles its way under her skin.

“I grew up without my family, Nathaniel, let me have this.” Talia holds up a hand in his direction. “Now, Lev, are we going to talk, or are we going to fight? I won’t let you hurt Iris.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, if anything back here gets broken then we both lose our jobs!” Nathaniel taps his hands in a ‘t’ pose.

Lev shrugged, tongue clucking. “Do you really want to be the reason I lose both of my jobs this year, princess?”

“Both jobs?” Nate half turns to look back at the entrance. “Uh-oh. Lunch rush. Lev, counter, now. Talia, come back later.”

She grabbed Lev’s wrist as he tried to sidestep her. “When do you get off?”

“Around you? Never.”

She bit her tongue to keep from screaming. “I mean off of work.”

“I get off work when he gets off.” He looks her up and down slowly, almost predatorily. “Now, are you really trying to stand between me and my job? I thought you’d atleast value a good work ethic.”

Talia let go of his wrist and lifted her hands to bury them in her hair, stepping away from him. She suddenly felt like prey, like something to be eaten, like a medium rare hurley beast steak with all the fixings.

“I’ll find you after work.” She gritted out through her teeth.

“I’m staying with Nathaniel. Counting on it.” He flashed a smile and slid through the door.

Talia wanted to scream.

She almost forgets to grab the smoothies on the way out.

Back at the house, She slams the door behind her, setting the drink tray on the side table between the couch where Iris is curled up with a book and a blanket and the comfortable armchair Auriana was using as a battlefield between her, yarn, and a pair of knitting needles.

Both of the other princesses look up at her as she begins pacing.

Iris pushes herself up, putting a bookmark in the book. “Talia? Is everything alright?”

Auriana glanced between the two of them and grabs the smoothie with the ‘A’ on it and slurps loudly.

“No, everything is not alright.” Talia grits out, hair swinging as she stops, planting her feet in the carpet. She blows a strand out of her mouth and frowns, reaching up to pull it into a ponytail.

“Iris, when does Nathaniel get off of work?”

Iris was already reaching for her phone as she giggled. “What, does someone have a crush?”

Talia blinks, then can’t help the sudden blush. “What? N-no!”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to lie to me.” Iris smiles and settles back down into the couch to send a text. “I won’t tell him.”

“I don’t like him, okay?” Talia threw her hands up. She knew that she hadn’t mentioned the true reason yet, maybe she should… not the full truth though, that would be terrible. “He just… he has a new coworker who’s staying with him, and I need to talk to the guy.”

“So you like him?” Auriana guesses.”

Talia stared her down until she sank back into the armchair and slurped the smoothie louder.

“No, I don’t like him. I don’t like anyone.” Talia crosses her arms. “Okay?”

Iris threw a fake pout at her. “Aw, I thought we were friends, Talia~” She drags out the ‘ah’ sound in her name, causing the blush on Talia’s cheeks to get worse.

“We are. You’re like a sister to me, Iris.” Talia sighed and sank into the opposite couch. “I’m just shook up from the conversation today, and I need to know what’s going on.”

Auriana offered her the other smoothie. “Here, this’ll help you feel better.”

Iris smiled at her phone and turned the screen off. “You’re like a sister to me too Talia, thank you. And they just got off work about five minutes ago, he said he was just hanging his coat up when I texted him.”

“A coat? In this weather?” Auriana interrupted, shaking her head. “Earth boys are crazy…”

Talia flapped a hand at Auriana. “That doesn’t matter. Where does he live again, Iris? I need to go talk to them.”

“Just down the road, big blue house with the tan trim.” Iris pointed a thumb in the direction of the cul-de-sac at the end of the street. 

Talia sucked on her smoothie and headed for the door. “Thank you!”

The walk was quick, and she did kind of wonder why they’d never made it to Nathaniel’s house but… No time to complain, not really. 

She knocks, smoothie in one hand and a determined look on her face.

A girl answers, shorter than her but older for sure. “Hello?”

“Is Nathaniel home? I need to talk to him.”

“He just got back!” She opens the door wider to turn and shout something in an Earth language that Talia didn’t know. “Come in, please.”

Talia stepped inside, the smell of spices immediately overwhelming her nose. “Is there… something cooking?” She asks.

“Yeah, Mata is helping Mami with dinner. You’re welcome to stay for it! Are you one of Nathaniel’s friends?” She backed up, leading the other girl out of the foyer. “So far it feels like he only has like, three friends, so we’d kill for him to have some more. Mata’s always pinching his ear and telling him to get a girlfriend too, so if you’re interested, really, just go for it! Or if you know anyone, tell them to get off their butts and snag him. He’s a catch, I swear.”

Talia laughed awkwardly, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Oh, I’m pretty sure you don’t need to worry about that…” Weren’t he and Iris something? She wasn’t getting between that.

Luckily, Nathaniel appears from who-knows-where with a cookie in his mouth and another two in his hands, grabbing Talia’s shoulder and steering her away. “Priya! Leave her alone.” He mumbles around the cookie.

Priya, who Talia… might guess was his cousin? Or a sister… She stuck her tongue out at him.

Talia let Nathaniel lead her up the stairs and into his room, which was surprisingly a long way down the hall.

“Your home is huge…” She comments.

“Thanks, a doctor, two lawyers, and a big time florist live here. Lots of family, lots of room.”

Talia whistled. “Does it ever get crowded?”

“Nope.” He shows her into the room, where she’s both surprised and unsurprised to find the other Ephedian sitting on the bed, ankles crossed and eyes trained on a small thing he was fiddling with.

Talia took a deep breath.

Nathaniel tossed the cookie to Lev, who caught it without looking. He offered the extra to Talia, who shook her head politely at him.

“So, where are we going to do this, princess?” Lev asked, taking a bite out of the cookie.

Talia narrowed her eyes at him. “Nathaniel?”

“Uh… The patio downstairs is a good place, but if you break the glass table Mom’ll kill you.”

“How about someplace with no threat of death?” Talia couldn’t help the chirpy-fake tone. Being around entitled assholes brought out the worst in her, after all. She spared Lev a tense, false smile. “We’ll be good.”

“Uh, there’s the second-floor balcony but… you guys’ll have to keep it quiet. Tia is two doors down and if we wake her up she really will kill us. Her baby is about six months old and the only time she gets to sleep is in the daylight when Mom takes him. So seriously, keep it down.”

Lev flashed Talia a wide smile rivalling quitah pearls in falseness. “I’ll be good if you’re good, princess.”

She mimed biting at him before nodding. “Oh, I’m good.”

That’s about when things went south.

Neither knew who started it, but before they knew it hushed whisper-yelling turned into her back being pressed against the railing, her hands holding his shirt tightly, threatening to rip. His lips were on hers and one hand was cupping the back of her head and the other was pulling her hips into his, and they were both leaning into each other like their lives depended on it.

He pulled back to gasp for air and Talia bit his bottom lip to drag him back in, nibbling on it for a second before sucking, tasting the coppery blood. He just moans and tips his head to the side to press in closer to her.

Is this what her mother had spoken about, when she described Mama as having been something she just crashed into? Is this what Auriana felt for even a fraction of the boys she chased? Is this what Iris felt when she got that look in her eyes, that pretty shine?

Talia sighed and pulled him closer, sucking on his bottom lip now. Lev’s hands both crept lower, moving to cradle her neck and her ass respectively.

Klatznik, this was a mess.

She pulls back after a few more intimate seconds to press her head to his chest, hands relaxing to just gently hold him there.

“Heh, doing alright there princess?”

“Shut up.”

She shook her head.

What was she going to tell Iris?

**Author's Note:**

> new otp? new otp. if anyone has any suggestions/prompts for more levalia fics then comment them below~ i'd love some more ideas!!


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